A wide variety of shower heads have been devised and used, ranging from simple sprinkling can type which provides a cluster of small streams of water to complicated and frequently adjustable heads which supply a wide range of shower patterns. While many details of these structures are vastly different, practically all of them have a spray assembly creating a plurality of water jets.
A shower head directs water from a shower fixture to a user in a stream or spray. Adjustable shower heads permit the user to select a wide variety of shower spray options. For example, a user may select a "fine" spray that distributes water in thin streams. Similarly, a user may select increasingly stronger sprays that distribute water in stronger, thicker streams. Fine sprays are often used to provide gentle rinsing action over a wide area. Strong sprays are used to provide intense massage action to one particular area.
Strong massage sprays are produced by directing all water flow through a central opening in a spray director of the shower head. Using a spray ring or dispersal plate disposed in the spray director often produces fine spray.
The dispersal plate typically has an outer surface formed complementary to an inner periphery of the spray director and defined by an edge, which engages formations provided on the inner periphery of the spray director. Such engagement permits water to flow through an array of small apertures formed in the dispersal plate and breaking a stream of water into a multiplicity of water jets.
A process of manufacturing the spray director usually involves a machine provided with a drilling tool, which is driven to traverse a blank. The blank is held in a position wherein its longitudinal axis extends parallel to displacement of the drilling tool which typically makes a central bore in the blank extending between inner and outer ends of the blank. Once this operation is completed, the blank is remounted to have its axial ends inverted for tapping the outer end of the blank.
As a consequence, an inner peripheral wall which may narrow toward its threaded outer end is formed and has an annular flange which separates the threaded outer end from the rest of the wall and may serve as a seat for a dispersal plate.
As known from the prior art which is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a dispersal plate 18 is typically a thin annular plate made of metal and having an array of small orifices 20 which may be arranged in a circular pattern spaced radially from the plate's edge.
Referring to FIG. 2, a rather typical spray director 10 has an inner peripheral wall extending between an inner end 12 and an outer end 14 which, in turn, is provided with a thread 16, as explained above. An annular flange 22 receives a dispersal plate 18 pneumatically pushed to sit on the flange 22 while gripping the wall with its edge. A stream of water entering the inner end 12 encounters the dispersal plate having an array of orifices that break the stream in a plurality of water jets delivered to a user.
As mentioned above, a process of manufacturing the spray director typically necessitates remounting of a blank in order to tap one of the opposite ends of the blank and, thus, may be rather complex and time consuming.
Also, a position of a dispersal plate during its installation within the spray director may not be properly centered along a center axis of the director due to the deformation of the plate during its displacement. Moreover, while current designs of the dispersal plate may operate satisfactorily while new, after a period of use it may be subject to deformations hampering the engagement with the spray director. All of it may easily lead to a rather high manufacturing cost and multifunction of the spray director during its use.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method of manufacturing a spray director without having a tool blank to be machined readjusted after a central bore has been made. It is also desirable to provide a method of ensuring a proper position of a dispersal plate within the spray director, as is the dispersal plate which has a structure facilitating and ensuring properly positioning of the dispersal plate during its displacement along the spray director.